Beginning Security

Course Overview

Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the core principles of cybersecurity, giving you a solid foundation to understand and protect digital environments. By the end of the course, you will have a deep understanding of how cybersecurity works and how to safeguard sensitive data using techniques such as encryption, password security, and web application vulnerability management. You will be empowered to make informed security decisions in various environments, from personal data protection to organizational strategies. The journey begins with foundational cybersecurity principles like security literacy and threat modeling. You will learn how to identify and assess risks, dive into the significance of metadata, and understand how it can expose sensitive information. Additionally, you will explore defense mechanisms against spear phishing attacks and gain an understanding of how man-in-the-middle attacks work, allowing you to make well-informed security decisions. Next, the course explores the critical topic of data security. This section focuses on risk management, encryption techniques, and best practices for protecting sensitive data, including passwords. You will also delve into the importance of access control, securing communications, and storing passwords securely, enabling you to implement effective data protection strategies for both personal and organizational use. Finally, the course wraps up with a focus on application security, particularly web application protection. You will learn how to secure web apps using techniques such as TLS and authentication strategies. Through practical exercises like hashing passwords in JavaScript and PHP, you'll gain hands-on experience in applying security protocols. You will also become familiar with industry standards, including OWASP's Top 10 vulnerabilities, which will equip you with the tools to mitigate risks and protect against real-world threats. No prior cybersecurity experience is required, but a basic understanding of computers and the internet is helpful. Familiarity with web technologies and basic programming concepts will be beneficial for the application security and practical exercises sections. This course is designed for anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of cybersecurity, IT professionals. It's also suitable for web developers and software engineers who want to enhance their understanding of application security and secure coding practices.